Four-day Utah and Colorado Whitewater Rafting Tour Offers International Participants First-hand Look at Conservation Policy in Western U.S.

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A month-long Spanish language international field seminar on protected area management includes a Utah and Colorado whitewater rafting tour on the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument

Entering Disaster Falls on day two of the 4-day Green River trip through Dinosaur National Monument.

They see how hard guides and outfitters work to provide a meaningful experience while minimizing visitor impacts. This is done through good planning, having safety provisions and providing interpretation.

Buena Vista, Colo. (Vocus/PRWEB)April 06, 2011

Adrift Adventures, a Utah and Colorado whitewater rafting company headquartered in central Colorado and authorized concessionaire of the National Park Service, has teamed up with Colorado State University to offer protected area management professionals from Latin America and Africa a whitewater rafting tour on the Green River July 28-31 through Dinosaur National Monument as part of a month-long course held in Spanish.

Sponsored by Colorado State University’s Center for Protected Area Management & Training and the US Forest Service International Programs, the Spanish language International Field Seminar on Protected Area Management will take place from July 6 to August 6, 2011 in Colorado.

“Field trips like this overnight whitewater rafting trip will expose participants to the protected area management approaches we have implemented in the western United States where there is more than a century of experience managing resources,” said James R. Barborak, co-director at the Center for Protected Area Management and Training at Colorado State University. “It’s not like we are saying to do it just as we do or have done, but to learn from our success stories and our failures.”

According to Barborak, the program is held in Spanish and is especially oriented to field-level personnel in Latin America - and some from Africa - who work directly with protected areas. A donor will sponsor these professionals, which allows them to come to Colorado for this 32-day course.

“The focus of this portion of the program is to both expose students to the wilderness and to see how eco-tourism works,” Barborak said. “They get a first-hand look at how the concessionaire operates. They see how hard guides and outfitters work to provide a meaningful experience while minimizing visitor impacts. This is done through good planning, having safety provisions and providing interpretation.”

This is the 21st year for the course and this year there have been a record number of applications. According to Barborak there are more than 230 applicants to fill 23 available spots.

Approximately 70 percent of the course is held in the field with the other 30 percent being held in the classroom at Colorado State University. Other field trips will take participants to Rocky Mountain National Park, Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, Ashley and Roosevelt National Forests, Arapaho and Brown’s Park National Wildlife Refuges, Colorado State Forest, and various other federal multiple use reserves and state, county, and municipal parks.

Dinosaur National Monument is one of the most pristine areas in the nation. This four-day Green River trip starts in northwest Colorado and ends in northeast Utah after its confluence with the Yampa River.

Adrift Adventures is an authorized concessionaire of the National Park Service and operates Utah and Colorado whitewater rafting trips near the confluence of the Green River and Yampa River in Dinosaur National Monument. To learn more about Utah and Colorado whitewater rafting tours through Adrift Adventures log on to http://www.whitewater.net or call 1-800-723-8987.